Stress Incontinence Treatment

For individuals who have stress incontinence (which is due to any type of stress that is placed on the body like laughing too hard, surgery, or even childbirth), there are different stress incontinence treatment options your doctor might try as a solution.

Behavioral Therapies –
These might also be a stress incontinence treatment option for your episodes. Some treatments which a doctor might consider for patients includes:

– pelvic floor muscle exercises (kegel exercises to help in strengthening the bladder muscles might be one solution for individuals who have incontinence episodes);

– healthy lifestyle changes (if you stop smoking, or if you change your diet patterns to lose weight, this might help in treating the incontinence);

– fluid consumption (some doctors will tell patients what time of the day they can drink, and might tell them to avoid certain beverages all together, in order to try and treat the problem); or,

– scheduled trips to the bathroom might be a solution for some individuals, which might help in reducing the uncomfortable episodes they have during the course of a day.

These different behavioral stress incontinence treatment options might be the solution for certain individuals, and depending on the severity of their incontinence, a doctor might consider a few of these in conjunction with one another, in order to properly treat the root cause of the incontinence.

Surgery –
In the most severe cases, and when the problem becomes more than a patient can (or should) handle, many doctors are going to consider surgical stress incontinence treatment options for their patients.

Some of the most common surgical solutions include:

– open retropubic colpususpension (this is a treatment option for women where sutures will attach the ligament or bones, in order to offer added support to the issues they deal with);

– injectable bulking agents (gels, synthetic sugars, or collagen might be injected in to the urethra, in order to lessen the issues of incontinence one has. By increasing the pressure on the urethra, this is going to help in lessening the episodes and the frequency of them);

– sling procedure (using the patient’s own tissue, a surgeon will create a sling, in order to help support the urethra, and lessen the pressure they feel, which is going to lessen or eliminate the incontinence); or,

– inflatable artificial sphincter (the fitted device will be placed around the upper portion of the urethra, and will replace the sphincter’s functions. This will in turn lessen the pressure placed on the urethra, and will help patients in controlling the urges to use the bathroom several times during the day).

Regardless of which surgical option is chosen for you by your doctor, there are different stress incontinence treatment options for patients who have a severe case of incontinence.

Depending on what has been done in the past, the severity of the case, and who your doctor is, there are going to be different forms of stress incontinence treatment, and different treatment options for doctors to consider, when trying to treat incontinence.

So, learning all options, and considering them with your doctor, is something a patient has to do, in order to ensure they end up choosing the best solution for their problem, and in order to find the solution which is most likely going to cure their incontinence with the least amount of effort (and cost) to the patient.